Aspire - Gradebook Standards Based

Logging In →

The Aspire Grade Book is accessed using a web browser. Ask your local SIS specialist for the URL for your school.

1. Login using your regular SIS login ID number preceded by the letter ‘F’ and your confidential SIS password (F 383). The letter ‘F’ signifies faculty user.

Applications → Attendance

You can use the Attendance screen without any grade book set up.

Applications → Attendance Entry

The attendance entry screen shows two calendar weeks with the current day (the date you select) in the middle of the screen. The spreadsheet-like screen allows you to easily move from cell-to-cell to enter or edit attendance codes. The top cell of the date you select will initially be selected for editing. The software will not allow you to type an invalid code. Attendance codes are set up by the office. Navigation arrows allow you to move forward or backward in two-week increments until you enter or change a student’s attendance code. You will need to save the data entered or data changed before leaving the screen.

1. Select the class period you need to take attendance for

2. Select the Attendance tile

Attendance → Class Entry Screen

Attendance entry screen

Attendance Totals Display next to the student name for easy viewing.

Teachers must put a check in the check box in red below the date and save to reflect they have taken attendance for the office.

To take Attendance:

Select Attendance
Select the Term
Select the Class
Change the date, if desired
Open the Legend – the Legend will show available attendance codes:
1. Attendance not taken for this date. Office attendance code. (If the office has entered the attendance, it will show up in blue.)
2. Available Codes:
3. X - Absent (X)
4. . - Present ( . )
5. U - Unexcused (U)
6. T - Tardy (T)
Enter or change attendance codes, as needed
Click Save to store your work

Citizenship → Define Citizenship

If you do not plan to use Citizenship in your grade book, you can ignore this section

Citizenship → Define Citizenship and skip to page 11 Gradebook → Setup

To Define Citizenship Definition Template:

Most teachers will only define citizenship once and use it for all of their classes from term-to-term and from year-to-year.

Prior to defining citizenship, you must answer a few simple questions:

What will I call the Citizenship Definition Template? (Most teachers name it Citizenship).
What Citizenship Mark Set will I use? (H (Honors) - 90, S (Satisfactory) - 70, N (Needs Improvement) - 50, U (Unsatisfactory) - 0)
What starting value will each student begin with for citizenship? (Depending on what starting citizenship mark you want showing in the grade book for students. Some teachers want students to start with an ‘S’ so, they would put 70 starting points – in this example 70 points equal ‘S’).

To Define Citizenship Definition:

Select Citizenship on the menu bar
Select Define Citizenship
Select *New Citizenship Definition in the drop-down menu
Type in the Title of your Citizenship Definition (Citizenship)
Enter the Citizenship Mark Set
Enter the starting points that each student will start with
Click Save to store the new Citizenship Definition

To edit a Defined Citizenship Definition:

Select Citizenship on the menu bar
Select Define Citizenship
Select the definition you want to edit from the Citizenship Definition drop-down list
Modify information as desired by
1. adding or deleting text
2. check or uncheck checkboxes
Click Save to store the modified Citizenship Definition

To delete a Defined Citizenship Definition:

Make sure the Defined Citizenship Definition is not being used by any setup classes. If it is, you will need to delete the Defined Citizenship Items and individually delete the Citizenship Items and Citizenship Marks assigned all student(s) using the Defined Citizenship Definition template before you can delete it.

If Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks have been posted, you will need to have the office or administration unlock the posted citizenship marks so that you can delete them. If a padlock shows next to the marks, this signifies the Citizenship marks have been Posted. After editing the posted Citizenship marks post the marks again and save.

Citizenship → Define Citizenship by Item

Citizenship Items describe general categories of negative and positive citizenship behavior items. For example: Caught Being Good, Helpful in Class, Caught Cheating, Stays on Task, Excessive Absences, Disruptive In Class, etc.

The Defined Citizenship Items can be added to a student’s Citizenship Log to detail the reasons for his/her earned citizenship mark. You may assign a positive or negative point value to each Defined Citizenship Item to simplify calculating citizenship marks to a student’s log. Assigning Citizenship Items with negative or positive points to individual students will recalculate the Citizenship mark.

Prior to defining the Define Citizenship Items you should:

Make a list of the positive and negative citizenship items you want to track
Assign a point value to each citizenship item
Determine what order you want them listed (optional)

To Define Citizenship Items:

Select Citizenship on the menu bar
Select Define Citizenship Items
For each Citizenship Item you wish to define use the next available line to:
1. Enter the sort order number (optional)
2. Enter the Title of the Citizenship Item
3. Enter the default value (either positive 5, 1 or negative -5, -1, or leave blank)
Click Save to store your Citizenship Items
Note: five new blank lines will be added at the bottom after you click Save

To edit Define Citizenship Item:

Select Citizenship on the menu bar
Select Define Citizenship Items
Make any necessary changes
Click Save to store the changes

To delete the Define Citizenship Items:

All Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks assigned to students must be deleted before you can delete the Define Citizenship Items

If Citizenship by Items and Citizenship marks has been posted, you will need to have the office or administration unlock the posted Citizenship marks so that you can delete them from the Citizenship Log. If a padlock shows next to the marks, this signifies the Citizenship marks have been Posted. Save after deleting Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks. Always post edited citizenship marks again if they were previously posted.

After the office has unlocked the Posted Citizenship marks, select Show Inactive on the top right under your name - *show inactive students. The Posted Citizenship marks screen will now be editable.

Delete Citizenship Items:

To delete the Citizenship Items assigned to students:

Select Day-to-Day - Citizenship
Select the Term attached to the Define Citizenship Items you want to delete
Select the Class attached to the Define Citizenship Items you want to delete
Select Show Inactive on the menu bar to include *inactive students
Select the Student(s)
Select the Delete boxes to delete Citizenship Items attached to the Define Citizenship Items
Click Save to store the changes

Applications → GradeBook

Setting up Elementary Standards Based Grade Book

Gradebook →Setup → Define Subject Template

The Subject Template is used to define specific grading parameters. Once the template has been saved it may be copied to multiple classes and it will remain available from term-to-term and from year-to-year.

Academic → Define Subject Template – example for Standards Based Language Arts

Add – Subject Title Add – Category Titles

Add – Markset - Standard Based

After creating the Subject Templates – Select Define Class

Select the Course and Term

Select Copy Subject Template and select the Language Arts Standards Based Template. Save

Continue with the same process for all courses and terms. And Save

After the Define Class is done –

Setup your Tasks (Assignments)

Academic → Define Subject Template → example for Standards Based Math

Saving - will open more fields to add subject fields

Example for Math Assignment – Tasks Suggestions:

Points Possible should not exceed 4 to get a true standards-based setup

Academic → Define Subject Template

Select Academic on the menu bar or the Define Subject Template icon
Select Define Subject Template

Prior to defining the Subject Template Definition you must answer a few basic questions:

What will I call the Subject Template Definition? (Names such as Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, etc).
Do I want a sort order for the Subject Template Definition? (optional)
Will I use category weighting to calculate grades? (Optional, this shouldn’t be used for standard marks – 1-4).
If I plan to use category weighting, what percentage will each category have? (They should total 100.)
How many Category Titles will I use? (You must have at least one).
What will my Category Titles be named? (They can be generic names such as Assignments, Tests, Quizzes. Generic Category Titles can be copied to every class)
In what order do I want my Category Titles to appear? (optional) Enter a number for each Category Title to indicate the sort order (1, 2, 3) or you can leave the sort order blank.
Do I want to set up score dropping for any of my categories? (optional)
1. If score dropping is checked for a given category, the system dynamically excludes the lowestscore(s) that will hurt the student’s mark the most.
2. i. Check the Drop Lowest checkbox if you want to use this feature
3. ii. Enter the number of scores to drop
4. iii. Enter how many scores are needed before dropping a score
What Mark Set grading scale will I use? The Mark Set is usually decided by the administration.
1. Select a Mark Set from the drop-down list (ask your school registrar/secretary which Mark Set to use)
2. If you are allowed to modify the Mark Set: Usually this markset is 1,2,3,4
3. Uncheck the marks you don’t want to use
4. Enter your Mark Set grading scale

Academic → Marks Definition

Academic marks are calculated with or without category weighting. Blank cells are not included in the calculation, but zeros are. Blank cells indicate a student wasn’t enrolled in class to hand in the assignments. Ignored scores are not included in the calculation. If category weighting is being used and one or more categories are empty, a reasonably accurate mark will be calculated based upon the categories that have scores. If there is not enough information to calculate a mark, no mark will be

shown. Extra credit is defined simply as points above points possible (points possible can be zero). A student may earn more than 100% overall.

10. The Comments box is for teacher view only and does not print anywhere. These comments are about the subject template and may give teacher instruction or reminders about a particular subject template. These comments are optional.
11. Click Save to store your template.

To define the Subject Template Definition:

Select Academic on the menu bar or the Define Subject Template icon
Select Define Subject Template
Type the name of your Subject Title
Select the sort order for the Subject Template Definitions if you will have more than one defined (optional)
Select Category Weighting (optional)
Name the Category Titles
Select the sort order of the Category Titles (optional)
If you selected Category Weighting, you will need to setup the weight of each Category Title
Select Drop Lowest -- for dropping student lowest scores (optional)
Select # to Drop -- for dropping student lowest scores (optional)
Select # before Drop -- for dropping student lowest scores (optional)
Select the grading Mark Set
Type in Comments (Optional) Subject Template comments are for teacher view only

Day-to-Day → Gradebook → Change ‘Subject’ Assignment

Change ‘Subject’ Assignment screen is designed for elementary school teachers with only one Class (course) in the grade book setup.

Elementary Setup → Define several * Subject Templates for one Class Course

Period 1 – Attendance Course ----*Subject Template - Language Arts

Subject Template - Math
Subject Template - Science
Subject Template - Social Studies
Subject Template - Spelling
Subject Template – Writing

Important Grade Book setup information:

There are an unlimited number of ways teachers can setup their grade book.

But, if you want it to work like a standardsbased - 1,2,3,4

Follow this closely -

Defining the Markset –

The way the Standards Based works – there is no rounding of percentages even though it needs to use percentages in the database tables in the setup.

It will average by the number of assignments , but it does not round up like the regular averaging gradebook does on the other grade book setups.

Even if the student gets more on all scores in a category – if they don’t meet the exact percentage what a 4 percent is set to at 90.00 – even if the student gets a 89.00, they will get a 3 - Proficient

The calculation averages by still looking at all tasks when it is broken out into categories. Teachers override the grade at the end of the term for what the student is proficient in.

Tasks – (assignments) cannot be worth more than 4- otherwise it skews the results.

If a teacher had one task worth more than 4 – It will skew the percent by inflating the percentage like an extra credit.

As soon as you change the points earned – 8 to a 4 – in both the task in the ‘Points Possible’ setup and the scores earned to 4 – it will average out the 4,4,1 points to earning a 75.00 which is a 2 – earned.

If you were to have the Markset setup on the school lens - Even though it shows, markset 4,3,2,1 – it is going to follow the markset that is setup on the standards based markset but, it is going to use true percentages, because , It cannot calculate on a 4,3,2,1. It has to be true percentages.

The way the calculations are in the database, it needs to have a percentage setup.

Example what it looks like in the grade book -

Tasks – Assignment Setup

Since ‘Dropping Scores’ is defined at category level, the software will drop the score that increases the category mark. It is possible when dropping a lowest score to have a situation where dropping one score is better for the category mark and dropping another score is better for the subject mark. This situation will only happen when a teacher has not chosen to do category weighting, has a wide range in the amount of points possible within a category, and has given large amounts of extra credit. Thus the calculation could drop 100 points out of 100 points rather than 3 points out of 8 points. A parent looking at this would wonder why this happened and think the grade book isn’t working correctly when in fact, it is.

Dropping scores is designed to allow a teacher to forgive one low score of a certain type (aka, category). The results are easy to explain: when a category score is dropped, it will increase the mark (student grade) within that category. This result is not necessarily meant to forgive a lack of work in another category.

It should also be noted that because of the grade book flexibility, the teacher is able to accomplish the desired results by marking: ‘do not drop’ on the score they didn’t want dropped.

Teachers using the Standards Based setup will not use dropping lowest scores in the grade book or use category weighting.

To create another →*Subject Template:

Select *New Subject Template Definition in the drop-down menu and name the new subject template
Repeat the steps listed above in Academic → Define Subject Template – Page 9

To edit a Subject Template Definition:

Select Gradebook - Setup on the menu bar
Select Define Subject Template
Select the template you wish to edit from the Subject Template drop-down list
Modify information as desired by:
1. adding or deleting text
2. checking or not checking checkboxes in the Mark Set
Click Save to store your modified Subject Template

To delete a *Subject Template Definition:

Make sure the Subject Template is not being used by any setup classes. If it is, you will need to:

First - individually delete the Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks and delete the student academic scores from active and * inactive students. If there are any Posted Citizenship marks or Posted academic marks, they will need to be deleted. If you have added comments to a student, they will need to be deleted. Scores will return to (Calc) and posting has been removed.

To delete scores for Tasks (assignments):

If students have posted academic marks, you will need to have the office or administration unlock the Posted academic marks so that you can delete them. If a padlock shows next to the academic marks, this signifies the academic marks have been Posted.

After the office has unlocked the Posted academic marks, select Show Inactive on the menu bar to show * inactive students. The Posted academic marks screen will now be editable.

To delete the Defined Class:

Select Class on the menu bar
Select Define Class in Gradebook
Select the Term attached to the Subject Template you want to delete
Select the Class attached to the Subject Template you want to delete
Check the Delete boxes next to all Category Titles and save.
Click on the Delete Subject
If Citizenship was used, in the drop-down menu – select and change it back to
1. <<Citizenship not used>> and save
Click Save to confirm the deletion of the Class
Copy Course should be back to <<Choose a Class to Copy>>
Copy Subject Template should be back to <<Choose a Subject Template>>

Define Class in Gradebook screen

After the defined Class is deleted:

To delete a Subject Template Definition:

Select Academic on the menu bar
Select Define Subject Template
Select the Subject Template you want to delete from the Subject Template drop-down list
Delete all Category Titles first
1. Check all checkboxes to delete all Category Titles
2. Click Save
Click Delete Subject Template and Save
Click Save to confirm the deletion of the Subject Template

Error Message:

If the categories or subject template won’t delete and gives an error message, it is because there are still scores or comments left in the tasks or there are citizenship items or citizenship marks. Go back to → Score Entry → Grades tab screen and make sure all active and *inactive student scores, citizenship items and citizenship marks have been deleted associated with the Subject Template. Make sure you have no posted marks for the subject. If a padlock shows next to the marks, this signifies the marks have been Posted. If you have posted marks, you will need to have the office or administration unlock your posted marks. After the marks have been unlocked from posting, you should be able to delete the mark(s). Always post again if the marks were posted. You should be able to delete the Subject Template.

Academic → Change Subject Assignment

To use the Change Subject Assignment screen:

Select Day-to-Day on the dropdown - Gradebook
Select the Term
Select the Subject Assignment
You may only have one class listed in the Class drop-down list
Select the Sort Drop-down to select Subject/Category, Subject/Due Date, Due Date, or Title
Select the Subject or Category you want to change your Tasks (assignments) to
Click Save to confirm the changes

Class → Define Class in Gradebook

At the beginning of the school year, you will need to set up the grade book for each class for each term. You can setup one term or all terms. You will set up your classes by copying Subject Templates or a previously defined class to each term.

You can also select the Citizenship for Class Definition to add Citizenship to each class, if you have setup Citizenship. You can include class comments. Class comments are not printed or viewed by anyone but the teacher. This is a preliminary step in using the grade book for a class.

Define Class in Gradebook screen

To Define Class in grade book:

Select Class on the menu bar
Select Define Class in Gradebook
Select the Term
Select the Class to be setup in the drop-down menu list
Select the Citizenship for Class definition in the drop-down menu to be used for the class if you have setup your Define Citizenship Template (optional)
Copy academic grading parameters by using set up a or b - listed below:
1. Copy Course:
2. Select a previously defined Class (if there has been a class previously setup) from the drop-down list
3. Copying Course can include copying the Tasks (assignments) you have already setup for another course by checking Include Tasks
4. Click Save to copy the information from that class course to the new class
5. or
6. Copy Subject Template:
7. Select a subject template from the drop-down list
8. Click Save to copy the information from the subject template to the new class
Modify any of the grading parameters that have been copied to the new class, if allowed
Add Class Comments, (Optional - Class Comments are for teacher information and view only)
Add Class URL that links to a personal web page for that class. Teachers can link assignments to each class, such as ‘myuen’ for students to access from home or in class.
Click Save to complete the Class Definition setup

Define Class in Gradebook screen

To edit a Defined Class in the grade book:

Select Class on the menu bar
Select Define Class in Gradebook
Select the Term
Select the Class you want to modify in the drop-down menu list
You may:
1. change the Citizenship Definition
2. edit the Subject Title
3. modify or delete Category information if there are no existing scores
4. adjust the Mark Set grading scale if this allowed by your administration

To delete a Defined Class in Grade Book:

Make sure the Defined Class is not being used by any students. If it is, you will need to:

First - individually delete the Citizenship Items and Citizenship Marks and delete student academic scores from all active and *inactive students. If there are any Posted Citizenship Marks or Posted academic marks, they will need to be deleted. If you have added comments to a student, they will need to be deleted.

To delete Posted Citizenship Items and Posted Citizenship Marks:

If Citizenship Items and Citizenship marks have been posted, you will need to have the office or administration unlock the posted Citizenship marks so that you can delete them. If a padlock shows next to the marks, this signifies the Citizenship marks have been Posted. After editing the posted Citizenship marks post the Citizenship marks again and save.

After the office has unlocked the Posted academic marks, select Show Inactive on the menu underneath your name to show * inactive students. The Posted Score Entry screen will now be editable.

After all scores are deleted, you must delete all Tasks (assignments) defined for the category

To delete all Tasks and Scores :

Select Day-to-Day on the menu bar
Select Define Task
Select the Term attached to the Defined Class you want to delete
Select the Class attached to the Defined Class you want to delete
Check all Delete boxes next to all tasks and save. All tasks for this class must be deleted to be able to delete the Defined Class

After all defined Tasks (assignments) for the categories are deleted:

To delete the Class:

Select Class on the menu bar
Select Define Class in Gradebook
Select the Term attached to the Defined Class you want to delete
Select the Class you want to delete
Check the Delete boxes next to all Category Titles and save.
Click on the Delete Subject
If Citizenship was used, in the drop-down menu – select and change it back to <<Citizenship not used>> and save
Click Save to confirm the deletion of the Class

Error Message:

If the categories or defined Class won’t delete and gives an error message, it is because there are still scores left in Tasks or there are Citizenship Items or Citizenship marks or student comments attached to students. Go back to Academic → Score Entry → Grades tab screen and make sure all active and *inactive student scores, Citizenship items and Citizenship marks have been deleted. Make sure you have no posted marks for the class. If a padlock shows next to the marks, this signifies the marks have been Posted. If you have posted marks, you will need to have the office or administration unlock your posted marks. After the marks have been unlocked from posting, you should be able to delete the mark(s). Always post again if student marks were posted. You should be able to delete the defined Class.

Academic → Define Tasks (assignments)

The Define Task screen is the most efficient way to add multiple tasks (assignments). Tasks can easily be added to any Category. This is also the place to go to mark the Don’t Drop flag, Ignore by Default flag for a given task, or to write comments about the task that will provide additional information and instruction for students and parents beyond the Task Title.

Define Task screen – example for Standards Based Mathematics

To Define Tasks (assignments):

Select Academic on the menu bar
Select Define Tasks
Select the Term
Select the Class
Change the Sort order, if desired (by Category, by Due Date, or by Title) using the drop-down field
Select a Category from the drop-down list
1. a. Enter the Due Date using the calendar tool or by typing the date using mm/dd/yyyy format
2. b. Type a task Title
3. c. Type the Points Possible
4. d. If you want to prevent this particular task from being dropped (if you have previously setup the Subject Template to drop a number of tasks), check the Don’t Drop checkbox
5. e. Check the Ignore by Default box to ignore the task (assignment) when calculating student marks. The scores for this task will not be included in the calculated marks. This option only works if there are no scores entered in the task when selecting Ignore By default. The scores will be ignored and will be turned the color green in the grade book for identification. Ignore By Default is only used for tracking a task (assignment).
6. f. Click on the Comment icon to add comments for the task (assignment), optional. These comments are viewed by students and parents for information on the web.
Repeat step 6 for each new task (assignment) you need to define
Click Save to store your work
After saving, it will add five more blank lines at the bottom for adding more tasks (assignments)

To edit Tasks (assignments):

Select Academic on the menu bar
Select Define Tasks
Select the Term
Select the Class
Change the sort order, if desired by Category, by Due Date, by Title (optional)

Define Task screen

6. You may:

a. Change the Category assignment for one or more tasks using the Category drop-down list
b. Change the Due Date for one or more tasks
c. Edit the Title for one or more tasks
d. Edit the Points Possible for one or more tasks
e. Modify the Don’t Drop flag for one or more tasks
f. Check the Ignore by Default box to ignore the task (assignment) when calculating student marks. The scores for this task will not be included in the calculated marks. This option only works if there are no scores entered in the task when selecting Ignore By default. The scores will be ignored and will be the color green in the grade book. This is a task that is only used for tracking a task.
g. Add or edit Task comments for one or more tasks. Task comments are viewed by students and parents for information about the task (assignment) on the web.

7. Click Save to store the changes

Assignments- Tasks - example for Standards Based Language Arts

To delete Tasks (assignments):

All assigned Scores assigned to the Task you want to delete must be deleted in the Score Entry screen for all students before you can delete the Task.

After the office has unlocked the Posted academic marks, select Show Inactive on the menu bar to show * inactive students. The Posted Score Entry screen will now be editable.

To delete scores for all Tasks (assignments):

Select Day-To-Day on the menu bar
Select Gradebook - Score Entry
Select the Term attached to the Task you want to delete
Select the Class attached to the Task you want to delete
Select the All tab
Select Show Inactive Student scores → Selecting Show Inactive at the top right on the menu bar will add students no longer enrolled to your class list. Inactive students will have an asterisk next to their name. Now you can delete all student scores.
Select each and all scores for the Task and delete
Click Save to store deleted scores

After all scores have been deleted for the Task(s) (assignments) you want to delete:

To delete All Tasks (assignments) and Scores:

Select Day-to-Day on the menu dropdown bar
Select Define Tasks
Select the Term
Select the Class
Check the checkbox next to the Tasks and scores you want to delete
Click Save to delete

Academic → Score Entry

Gradebook - Score Entry screen by Class

To use the Score Entry screen by Class:

Select Day-to-Day on the menu bar
Select Gradebook - Score Entry
Select the Term
Select the Class
Select the Category tab you wish to add student scores to
You may:
1. a. Add a new Task on this screen without going to the Define Tasks window by:
  1. i. Entering a Task name in the blank Task window
  2. ii. Entering the Due Date using the calendar tool or by typing the date in by using mm/dd/yyyy format
  3. iii. Entering the points possible
2. b. Enter scores by:
  1. i. Clicking on the fill arrow at the top of the column to populate all students with the points possible or
  2. ii. Manually typing the scores as desired
3. c. Edit scores by:
  1. i. Going to a cell to:
  2. 1) Type over the existing score
  3. 2) Delete the existing score
4. d. SAVE –Always save your work to recalculate new or edited scores for accurate student mark changes before navigating away from the Score Entry window. This is critical.
Save your work before navigating away from any screen or your data entry changes will be lost.

Your data will not be saved if you:

a. Change classes without saving

b. Click on a student’s name to access the student scores screen without saving

c. Use the menu to go to a different screen without saving

d. Select Show Inactive students without saving

e. Select Attendance or Student Demographic icons without saving

f. Refresh your screen without saving

g. Leave your computer idle until your login times-out without saving.

To keep the data secure, login sessions will time-out.

Legend → Score Entry Screen

Scores that display in colors are defined in the Legend

Click on the Legend button to display

a. Legend definitions:

* Green = ‘E’ - Excused,Ignored/Dropped - Assignment is excused from score calculation.

* Purple = ‘M’ – Missing Assignment that is calculated as a ‘zero’ against the mark

* Blue = Not Automatically Dropped

* Red = Exceeds Points Possible (extra credit)

* blank = After the assignment due date, the missing assignment is ignored and not

calculated against the student mark.

b. Access additional information about a student by:

* Clicking on the attendance icon to the left of a student’s name

* Clicking on the student demographic icon to the left of a student’s name

Missing Score Definition:

A “Missing” assignment is setup with an M. But, is excluded when the “Ignore” flag is checked. It also excludes scores that have the “Don’t Drop” flag checked. (Excluding “Don’t Drop” scores allows a teacher to not show zero scores where a student was cheating as a missing assignment.)

Missing Assignment Definition:

A “Missing” assignment is a blank score with points possible greater than zero whose due date has past. It excludes scores that have the “Ignore” flag checked.

Click on the Legend button again to close the Legend definitions display

Legend → Score Entry Screen → Grades Tab

Click on the Legend button to display Pre-Defined – Canned school Report Card Comments:

Click on the Legend button again to close the Legend definitions display

Academic → Score Entry → Grades Tab

Column Definitions for the Score Entry Screen

Academic - Percent: The percentage of points earned to points possible.

Academic - Calc.: Calculated mark, a summary academic mark based on scores entered.

Academic - Publish: The Published /Posted/ Finalized/Stored calculated mark or teacher

overridden academic mark. It is the mark that will be Published and printed on all

final reports and Stored to Course History.

Citizenship - Calc.: A Calculated summary citizenship mark based on student citizenship item

scores.

Citizenship - Publish: A summary citizenship mark or teacher overridden citizenship mark which

is the citizenship mark that will be Published /Posted/ Finalized/Stored on all final

reports and Published to Course History.

Absent: Always displayed - Automatically calculated after saving.

Tardy: Always displayed - Automatically calculated after saving.

Comments - 1, 2, 3 : One-line, pre-defined (canned) comments edited by the office or

administration in Academic Progress can be applied to individual students. Comments

are selected in a drop-down menu as numbers. By clicking the Legend button, users

may display the explanation of numbers that correspond to the comments. These

comments will be printed as numbers on student reports with a Legend.

Other Student Comments that are not listed in the Grades tab: Student Comments that are given by Task to individual students in the Student Scores window will be printed on Progress Reports along with the pre-defined numbered comments.

Note: An editable text box allowing for individualized comments which are included on the Student Gradebook screen as well as printed on the Report Cards. Notes are not printed on Progress Reports.

If the Note box is not editable, it is because the student mark has been posted. If a padlock shows, this signifies the marks have been Posted. Only unlocking the student mark(s) will allow the Note box to be editable again.

Post Final - ALL: Post Final is used to Publish/Finalize/Store student marks.

A checkbox for posting a student's mark to history will post marks after selecting All or one student at a time and saving.

Some Elementary schools may choose not to Post /Publish/Finalize/Store Marks. If your school chooses not to post marks, you can skip this information and go to page 37.

Academic → Post Final - All

Occasionally the office will instruct you to post your marks so that mid-term or end of term report cards can be printed and distributed. This can be done as frequently as the school administration requires. The marks should be posted at the end of every term whether or not the office will be printing student report cards. Marks not posted will not show on report cards and be lost when the school year is over and the database has been rolled over for the start of the next school year. These marks are not retrievable. Students will lose not just the mark for the class but also the credit awarded for the class and could affect graduation credit if credits apply.

To Post Final marks → Publish/Finalize/Store marks(Optional – most elementary marks do not need posted. This is a secondary post to transcripts) :

Select Academic on the menu bar
Select Score Entry
Select the Term
Select the Class
Select the Grades tab (this is the only place you can post or view class or student posted marks)
Check the checkbox next to each student(s) name that is to be posted to Final or click All if you want all students’ marks Posted to Final
Click Save

You will need to select each and ALL individual classes for each class for posting student marks

Academic → Review Posted Final Marks

Teachers need to always check each term to make sure all class marks have been Posted.

Posted marks will show a padlock in the Score Entry screen in the Grades tab by each student name. If a student’s mark hasn’t been posted, their name will not have a padlock by it. You need to select the student’s name to be posted and save to post all student marks. Each class must be selected one at a time and checked to make sure all student marks have been posted.

To review posted marks:

Select Academic on the menu bar
Select Score Entry in the drop-down menu
Select the Term
Select the Class
Select the Grades tab (this is the only place you can post marks or view your posted marks)
Repeat this for all classes in the term and make sure all student marks are posted

After you have Posted to Final, the marks appear in the Publish column as they are now stored in academic history. Marks are black if it is a calculated mark and has not been overridden. Marks will be red if it is an overridden mark. Drop-down options disappear and a lock icon appears in place of the Post Final checkbox.

If changes need to be made to marks after Posting Final, if a padlock shows on the mark needing changed, users need to ask the office or administration to unlock the posted marks. After editing the marks, the teacher will need to post the mark again, making sure a padlock shows again.

Academic → Score Entry → Grades Tab -- Overridden Marks

On the Grades tab, users may override any calculated mark by choosing a mark from the drop-down menu and saving the change. Overridden marks will appear in red. On an individual student, an overridden mark will not recalculate and include newly added score changes that are added after a teacher has given a student an overridden mark unless the teacher returns the overridden mark back to calculated. This is critical to remember!

Academic → Score Entry → Grades Tab -- Calculated Marks

The top option in the drop-down menu picture below displays the calculated mark …. (Calc).

Selecting the calculated mark … (Calc) resets the overridden mark back to the calculated mark ….(Calc).

Any mark … (calc) can be selected to set marks back to calculate. The mark then appears in black as if the overridden mark never occurred.

Comments → Student

You may want to write comments to an individual student and his/her parents providing more information than the student marks indicate for a given term. Students will be able to view Student Comments on the web and Student Comments will be printed on Progress Reports and Report Cards.

To add or edit comments for an individual student can be entered on Student Scores or Score Entry:

To add comments for a student on the Student Scores screen:

Select Academic on the menu bar
Select Student Scores
Select the Term
Select the Class
Select the Student
Select the Category – Task Title that you want to add a student Comment to
Select the Comment icon at the right of the student’s score to enter or edit student comments
Click Save to store your work

To add comments to a student from the Score Entry screen:

Select Academic on the menu bar
Select Score Entry
Select the Term
Select the Class
Select the Category Tab
Select the Student by clicking on the student name
Select the Task Title that you want to add a Comment to
Select the Comment icon at the right of the student’s score to enter or edit student comments
Click Save to store your work

Comments → Task (Assignment)

Task Comments can be viewed on the web by students and parents.

To add or edit comments for a Task (assignment):

Task Comments can be used to give instruction to students about the Task (assignment)

Select Academic on the menu bar
Select Define Tasks
Select the Term
Select the Class
Select the Task (assignment) Comment icon
Enter or edit generic viewable comments for all students/ parents about the specific Task (assignment)
Click Save to store your work

The interface for reports opens in a new browser window. You will have two browser windows open when generating reports. The grade book window and the reports window.

The list of all available reports is accessed using the reports drop-down list. To shorten the list, select a Report Category from the Report Category drop-down list.

To print a report:

Select Reports from the menu bar or select the Reports icon
Select a Category (optional)
Select a Report
Select the desired Formatting Options (Parent Signature, Show Tasks, Student Comments, etc.) and Filtering Options (Withdrawn Students, etc)
Select the Report Format: Acrobat (.pdf) is the default format report
Click the Generate Report button to display the selected default Acrobat (.pdf) report

You can select the options to view the report in the default Acrobat (pdf) format, or Excel(.xls)format, Text(.csv) format, or Web (.html) format

7. To choose to export a different Report Format in the Report Format drop-down field like Excel (.xls).

a. Select the Excel (.xls) file from the drop-down list

b. Click the Generate Report button

c. Click Open or Save it to your computer

d. You may also:

i. just Print the report

ii. Save the report to your computer

8. When finished generating the report, Close the browser window displaying the report to return to the reports screen

9. Close the reports browser window to return to the grade book window

10.You can add Additional Comments on the report screen for some reports, before printing. These

are generic comments for all student information. Once you have printed the report, the Additional Comments are deleted. You need to type in Additional Comments every time you print a new selected report. Additional Comments are not stored or saved for Report Cards or Mid-Term Reports.

Teacher comments for students are saved and printed in addition to other or pre-defined comments on the reports for each term.

Saving Grade Book Task Assignments to your computer→

To save Grade Book Task assignments:

Create a Folder to save your grade book files in on your C: drive or where you are allowed to save your documents and name the folder by Subject, by Term, or what you will use to identify the student assignments you want to save. (Term1LanguageArtsPeriod1)

Select Reports on the menu bar
Select Gradebook Report Category
Select Class Task Summary Report or any other report(s) you want to save
Select the Term
Select the Class
Select the Category/Task
Select the Report Format (Excel (.xls), (Acrobat(pdf.), etc.

8. Select Generate Report

9. Select Save for (.xls) or File → Save As for (.pdf) and navigate to the folder you have created

and save the file inside the folder.

10. Repeat this for all assignments you want to save.

E-Mailing → in the Grade Book

E-Mail Class - students and contacts (parents/guardians):

Teachers can e-mail the class (all students) or one student at a time.

Selecting: Selected Students’ Contacts (e.g. parents, guardians, etc.) will include the e-mail to go to contacts

Assessment Scores → are viewable in the Grade Book by Teachers

Select the RISE / SAGE - Aspire + Scores in the landing page:

ELA – Language Arts Scores

Math Scores

Science Scores

Red Scores → indicate below average results-

Student Profile → is viewable in the Grade Book for Teachers

Select student profile icon next to student name

Student Profile includes all student demographic and scheduling information.

Student Summary → is viewable in the Grade Book for Teachers

Select the student name to see their Student Summary information

Teachers can see all class information for their students.

Academic Marks → Definition

Academic marks are calculated with or without category weighting. Blanks are not included in the calculation but zeros are. Ignored scores are not included in the calculation. If score dropping is turned on for a given category, the system dynamically excludes the score(s) that will hurt the student’s mark the most. If category weighting is being used and one or more categories are empty, a reasonably accurate mark will be calculated based upon the categories that are not empty. If there is not enough information to calculate a mark, no mark will be shown. Extra credit is defined simply as points above points possible (points possible can be zero). A student may earn more than 100% overall.

Legend definitions:

* Green = ‘E’ - Excused,Ignored/Dropped - Assignment is excused from score calculation.

* Purple = ‘M’ – Missing Assignment that is calculated as a ‘zero’ against the mark

* Orange = ‘R’- Retake assignment. Signifying the teacher expects the student to retake and

no score has been added.

* Blue = Not Automatically Dropped

* Red = Exceeds Points Possible (extra credit)

* blank = After the assignment due date, the missing assignment is ignored and not

calculated against the student mark.

Excused Score Definition - E: student is not required to turn in this assignment or test.

Retake Score Definition - R: student is required to retake this assignment or test.

Missing Score and Missing Assignment Definition:

A “Missing” assignment is a zero and is calculated as a zero.

It excludes scores that have the “Ignore” flag checked. It also excludes scores that have the “Don’t Drop” flag checked. (Excluding “Don’t Drop” scores allows a teacher to not show zero scores where a student was cheating as a missing assignment.)

Citizenship Marks → Definition → H (Honors) - 90, S (Satisfactory) - 70, N (Needs Improvement) - 50, U (Unsatisfactory) - 0

A “Missing” assignment is a zero and is calculated in a student’s final mark. It excludes scores that have the “Ignore” flag checked. It also includes scores that have the “Don’t Drop” flag checked.

Keeping the grade book setup simple is best. Weighting, dropping scores, ignoring scores too extensively can cause confusion for parents. Parents will question the results of a student’s mark when too many options have been selected.

Mouse-over →

Throughout the grade book you may get additional information about an icon or data item by pointing or moving the mouse-over it. This feature is especially useful for identifying the function of an icon or for revealing the full contents of an abbreviated data field.

/ → option on the menu bar in grade book

The grade book assumes that you don’t want to see students in your list who are not currently enrolled in the class. If you wish to include *inactive students in your list, click on Show Inactive on the menu bar. Be sure to save before changing to this screen or you will lose any work you have entered since you last saved. Once the screen refreshes, the button will change to Hide Inactive. Simply click on the Hide Inactive button once again to hide the *inactive students who have exited your class.

Examples of what Standards Based Categories and Tasks could be:

Standards Based Reporting: Screen Shots

Defining Subject Templates – Naming Subjects can be as liberal as you want them to be.

Select Mark Sets for 1 – 4 (Office setup for teachers to select in the drop-down menu)